2 Corinthians 1:3-5 – Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

Who comforts us in all our troubles

I can be overprotective. Not in the sense that I don’t let my boys do anything. In fact in some ways I’m way more permissive than some parents. My boys are free to ride their bikes downtown, crossing the highway. They are able to stay home alone for long periods of time, but there are things that make me crazy.

If I am around and my boys are doing anything dangerous at all I get nervous. You know, dangerous things like; riding their bikes, playing football, walking on a ledge, exploring, hiking, climbing at a playground, or basically anything else that they could get injured in any way. Pretty much everything more than breathing makes my heart race a bit. Why? I have no idea. Perhaps it’s the fact that I’m very uncoordinated myself, and I know the likely hood of me getting hurt doing any of those things is high. My solution to my crazy over protectiveness? I send my husband.

This isn’t a new phenomenon. When I was a teacher, there was nothing I hated more than recess duty. I was nervous the whole time. Eventually another teacher (mother of 9) and I came to an agreement that I would do lunch duty, and she would take recess duty. Problem solved.

Outdoor school

So this brings us to this morning. I awoke at 4:30 am, anxious about my boys leaving for outdoor school this week. I thought about all of the things that could go wrong. Will they get along with the other kids, will they be safe, etc. I began to pray to God for comfort. I decided I needed a verse to focus on as I prayed, and I found the one above. I realized that I need to be comforted by God so that I can help my boys be comfortable with the situation.

So that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God

Many things in life seem uncomfortable. Like we may never have comfort again. Perhaps you’ve had a miscarriage, a child die, an illness, divorce, abandonment, or heart-break. When we’re going through these things it seems we might never recover. If we’re fortunate, the Lord will provide someone to walk along side us who has already experienced these troubling times. In time most of us do find comfort from the Lord. In fact true comfort only comes from the Lord. Our hope of everlasting life through Jesus Christ is often the comfort we need to help us to know that all things on this earth are temporary, but God’s love is forever. Let us not forget where we’ve come from, the challenges we’ve faced. The Lord has provided us comfort through those times so that we can comfort others.

How are you being called to comfort someone?